Toshio Matsumoto, Japanese film director, Died at 85

Toshio Matsumoto was born on March 25, 1932, in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan and died on April 12, 2017.

He was a Japanese film director and video artist.

In 1955, he graduated from Tokyo University.

Matsumoto’s first short was Ginrin, which he made in 1955, but his most famous film is Funeral Parade of Roses (also known as Bara no soretsu).

The funeral Parade of Roses-influenced Stanley Kubrick’s film A Clockwork Orange heavily.

That particular film was a retelling of Oedipus Rex, featuring a transsexual (portrayed by Peter) trying to move up in the world of the Japanese gay bars.

He has published many books of photography and was a professor and dean of Arts at the Kyoto University of Art and Design.

Matsumoto was also the President of the Japan Society of Image Arts and Sciences.

Matsumoto lived in Tokyo until his death.

Toshio Matsumoto passed away at 85 years old.